


He Has No Hearts to Be Broken Anymore

by ScooterThyme



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Drama, Gen, Introspection, Suspense, Time Lord Victorious, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 21:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4194957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScooterThyme/pseuds/ScooterThyme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was no one to govern the Laws of Time. There was also no one to care whether those Laws were upheld, changed, or completely thrown out the window. He was the default now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Has No Hearts to Be Broken Anymore

**Author's Note:**

> A simple study on what went through the Doctor's mind when the switch flipped, and he became Time Lord Victorious during "The Waters of Mars." Written for the WriteWorld Tumblr prompt: "He has no heart to be broken anymore."

This was a Fixed Point. He knew that. He didn’t have to read the history books, or even know anything about the events surrounding it, because he could literally feel it. The atmosphere was different at Fixed Points, like the unnerving tingling of static on skin during a lightning storm. The air itself became activated by Time, and everything in its vicinity stayed in constant motion with the single goal of keeping the Point on track. It could be temporarily overlooked in the heat of a moment, but a Time Lord would know it was there just as easily as anyone else could register whether or not the sun was up. The closer to the climax, the more stubborn Time became, and the more likely it was to aim sparks and shocks at anyone who dared to meddle.

He thought he’d get used to it by now. Wished he would. And on very rare occasions, he was, but only momentarily, only when he had to run on adrenalin to deal with the danger that was causing it in the first place. It never lasted. The pain never really went away, it just dulled a little bit as time went on and more piled on top of it. How involved he actually was or wasn’t didn’t seem to make much difference.

Fire and debris surround him, both outside and in. Pieces of spaceship and memories of friends. Parts of a habitat base and stories upon stories of those hopelessly lost. Planets and people, his and others— _countless_ others—that he couldn’t save for one reason or another, all crammed inside his head, all screaming along with his own inner voice, until he couldn’t take it any longer.

Something is different this time. Something has changed. His eyes watch the flames as his mind begins to collapse in on itself, like a black hole, almost impossibly far beyond the point of no return.

_“I’m not just a Time Lord. I’m the last of the Time Lords…_  
They’ll never come back, not now…  
I’ve got the TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords…  
Then they died and took it all with them…  
The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed, gone forever…  
The Time Lords kept their eye on everything, it’s gone now, all of it…  
But they died, the Time Lords, all of them, they died!”

He has no hearts to be broken anymore. They’ve been broken one too many times, including right now. This will be the last time that he stands by helpless, watching as death and defeat come to claim their spoils yet again. No—this won’t actually be the last time, because he’s not going to let it finish. This Fixed Point isn’t over, nor is he done with it yet.

Honestly, he’s surprised with himself that it’s taken this long.

All those soulless decisions that never set well with him, the rules that never did anybody any good in the first place, and the cruelty that went along with the so-called policy of “observation” had nobody else left to uphold them. There was no one to govern the Laws of Time. There was also no one to care whether those Laws were upheld, changed, or completely thrown out the window. _He_ was the default now.

_“I’m the last of the Time Lords.”_

The Doctor feels his skin zip with electricity that practically dances off of him, as he strides back to Bowie Base One. It creates a false force field around his mind, holding the Fixed Point at bay. He doesn’t realize it until it’s far too late.


End file.
